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A Venture Capital firm, with offices in the Eastern US and Europe, currently manages three active funds, two focused on private equities and one focused on public equities. The firm is currently in the process of raising a private equity fund that it plans to have its first close in Sept/Oct 2014. The firm’s private equity funds make investments in the form of preferred equity; the public equity fund invests in the form of PIPEs and public market placements. The size of the firm’s investments is highly varied, as the firm pursues a great variety of opportunities with investments falling anywhere in the €2-€15 million range. The firm is actively seeking new investments in the life science sector, and will consider potential opportunities in Europe and North America.

The firm’s new fund plans to invest broadly in the life sciences across sectors of therapeutics, diagnostics, devices and healthcare IT. The fund is very open across stage, indication and technology types with a slight preference for companies working with platform technologies. The firm also manages a fund that focuses on medical devices, diagnostics and healthcare IT companies with products on the market or close to commercialization. With this fund the firm specifically looks for opportunities that are both increasing quality and reducing the cost of care.

The firm places a considerable focus on technology when vetting deals; the partners of the firm are MDs, PhDs or both. In addition to strong technology the firm prefers to invest in management teams with strong track records and deep domain expertise, preferably with prior experience of achieving success in a venture-backed life science company. The firm generally looks to take a board seat following investment.

A Venture Capital company with offices in the Eastern and Western United States is looking to make equity investments ranging from approximately $3-$5 million initially and $10-$25 million over the investment’s lifetime. The firm looks for companies primarily in the United States, and some select opportunities in Europe. The firm plans to make between 1-5 investments over the next year.

The firm is interested in sectors of Biotech Therapeutics, Diagnostics, Medical Devices, Life Science Tools and Healthcare IT. In the Therapeutics space the firm is looking for both small molecule and biologics that are 1 year from entering clinical trials or later with a preference for companies that have in human data. The firm is generally open to all indications but is especially interested in areas of Oncology, Immunology and Orphan Diseases. For Medical Devices, Diagnostics and Life Science Tools the firm prefers to make later stage investments into companies that have significant in human data or have already been commercialized.

The firm is looking for experienced management teams and generally requires a board seat. The firm looks to take company through significant value inflection points acting as a very hand on investor. The firm almost always leads or co-leads investment rounds.

A venture capital firm based in Singapore is looking to make early, growth, expansion, and mezzanine stage investments in the healthcare sector. The firm typically invests in the Series A and B rounds. The firm has raised two funds to date. The firm seeks to invest in non-Asian companies that are interested in entering the Asian market; investment funds are prioritized to companies looking to set up operations in Singapore. The firm will also invest in companies based in Asia. The investment size is variable depending on the stage of the company; ranging from $1M to $10M or more. The firm will consider opportunities from around the globe and is actively seeking new investment opportunities.

The firm seeks to invest in biopharmaceuticals, diagnostics, and medical devices. For therapeutics, the firm prefers novel small molecules and biologics targeting indications in large markets. The firm prefers to invest in platform technologies and typically invests in clinical stage opportunities. For medical devices, the firm prefers devices in the later stages of development or near commercialization. The firm seeks a strong management team and considers both private and public companies.

A venture capital firm headquartered in Melbourne, Australia is looking to make makes equity investments from $3M-5M. The firm anticipates about 6 new investments this year and looks to invest invests globally.

The firm will invest in companies across the life science space, including therapeutics, diagnostics and medical technology. The group does not invest in service providers. The firm considers all subsectors and indications, including orphan indications. The group will consider technology either in or prepared for human clinical trials and is open to all classes of devices. The firm seeks investments in novel technology and is not looking to gain share of an existing market.

The firm is open to co-investments and considers public or private companies. The group will only consider companies with granted patents or a clear patent strategy. Companies of interest must have a remote connection with Australia or the Pacific Region. This may include a facility or a partner located in the region.

A life-sciences focused venture capital incubator / accelerator based in the Western US is looking to provide capital in the form of equity and convertible notes to seed and venture stage companies in the life science space. The firm can provide capital in the range of a few hundred thousand to $2 million or more by leveraging its groups of angel syndicates. The firm invests in companies across the United States, Europe and Australia with a preference for California based companies. The firm looks to be involved in 3 new companies per year. The VC is currently looking for companies in areas of Medical Technology / Devices, Therapeutics and Companion Diagnostics. In the Medical Device space the firm is open in terms of sector and indication and will consider firms that are in the development phase as well as those that have entered clinical trials. In the therapeutics space the firm is generally open as well however the firm is highly interested in areas of cell and gene therapy and oncology. For therapeutics the firm tends to get involved at the preclinical stage or during phase I of clinical trials. The firm is looking for confident and experienced management teams. Given the early stage investment style that the firm has, they often work with management teams that are incomplete and have primarily academic backgrounds. Part of the value that the firm looks to add is helping firms fill in the gaps in their current management.

LSN’s investor research group maintains quarterly contact with over 5,000 active investors in the life science space. In recent history, LSN has focused on tracking the plethora of new investor categories entering the life science arena filling the void left by Venture Capital. In this edition of the LSN Newsletter, we will be taking a look at some interesting statistics surrounding the new investor categories LSN tracks, and their preferences within the early stage biotech space.

The chart below shows the results of an LSN Investor Database search mapping out all non-venture capital investors tracked by LSN with a declared interest – or mandate – in seed/venture stage therapeutic companies with an asset in Discovery, Lead Optimization, Preclinical or Phase I clinical trials. The result is 875 investors globally. The LSN Research Team uncovers 40-50 new investor mandates per week.

One of the most interesting pieces of data gleaned from LSN’s analysis is the overwhelming number of investors with an opportunistic orientation towards early stage technologies (roughly 34% of investors). This shows that for many non-VC early stage investors, especially private equity, other factors are of primary interest (e.g. management team or therapeutic subsector).

When it comes to disease mandate-driven investors (i.e. investors driven by a specific indication) top indications of interest are generally aligned with major disease areas with significant market opportunity. These include cancer – (over 29%!), diseases of the nervous system (e.g. ALS, MS, Alzheimers), infectious diseases, cardiovascular disease and endocrine (diabetes).

So what’s the big deal? First of all – The data shows that non-VC investors are certainly showing interest in early stage biotech, which validates many of LSN’s anecdotal market insights. Second, it shows that even though about 34% of these investors are opportunistic, many have clear mandates in a space that is highly strapped for capital. If you’re looking to raise money, especially in one of the top therapeutic areas shown, these investors should certainly be on your radar. Stay tuned as LSN continues to offer insights on the changing investor landscape.

Here at LSN, I speak with many life science entrepreneurs about investor fit. Typically, life science executives believe that fit is a one-way street, meaning that they need to do all they can to prove they are a fit for a prospective investor. While it is certainly true that an integral part of the fundraising process is proving that your company is a fit for the firm’s investment thesis, this is not a one-sided negotiation. It is just as important for life science companies to make sure a potential investor is a fit for what the firm is looking to attain, and therefore, finding a potential investor needs to be both a strategic and tactical play.

What many life science CEOs struggle with is whether they should favor investors that have expertise in a particular area versus investors that are experienced in a certain phase of development. The answer, by and large, depends on what the life science company is looking to achieve in the long run, but there is of course no easy answer to this dilemma. Many entrepreneurs consider the problem a simple one – why would you want an investor that doesn’t understand your technology, or one who does not have expertise in your particular indication area?

While it is certainly important for investors to have a basic understanding of your disease area, this is only truly important if you are seeking scientific advisors for your firm. If this is the case, then finding a partner that has expertise in your disease area may be favorable to finding an investor that has knowledge of your stage of development. But what if, conversely, the executive is seeking a quick exit or a recapitalization? In this case, it may be more attractive to find an investor with a laser focus on your particular area. These investors already have a great knowledge of the space and thus probably already have a solid network that will be willing to acquire the company once the firm hits certain milestones.

Most life science executives I speak with, however, are not seeking scientific advisors, and instead are seeking investors with the business acumen to help take their product from discovery to distribution. These companies would benefit from a relationship with an investor that has knowledge of their particular phase of development, and who can thereby help to scale their business. It is also very beneficial for companies to be partnered with investors who have a deep knowledge of their phase of the clinical development cycle. These investors will have the expertise to help life science firms partner with appropriate firms in the R&D services space (such as CROs and other service providers).

Again, there is no clear solution to this problem. If your company is seeking an investor with a deep network in the space, then choosing an investor with sector expertise may be the answer. These investors, however, may not be able to help you scale your business to the point where your firm is an attractive investment or acquisition target for a larger investor within their network. Simply put, the answer is convoluted, no investor is the same, and everyone brings something different to the table. Life science executives should clearly define their goals in terms of growth and exit before deciding on an investor based on sector fit versus development phase fit.

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